Krish Manoj is an independent artiste determined to redefine the landscape of local Tamil music in Sri Lanka. With a growing international presence and a collaborative  spirit, Manoj is playing a significant role for a local Tamil music renaissance in the country and inspiring a new generation of Tamil musicians.  In this Life Plus interview, Manoj talks about his journey, his vision for Tamil music, and his upcoming projects.

Q HOW DO YOU ENVISION TAMIL MUSIC BECOMING MORE MAINSTREAM IN SRI LANKA? WHAT STEPS ARE YOU TAKING TO ACHIEVE THIS? This has always been my ultimate goal as an independent artiste from Sri Lanka. The Tamil community around the globe has a history of following South Indian Tamil movie songs and artists, and it’s understandable because many amazing songs are produced there. That being said, the Tamil Indie scene has picked up significantly  in countries like India, Malaysia, and several European countries. 

As an individual, and as part of our team, whether it’s Tea Kada Pasanga or Rap Indie, we are taking major steps in the industry to make a name for the Tamil music industry’s mainstream goals. I have collaborated with various artistes and playback singers from India, and a few of our songs have done quite well on digital streaming platforms. Likewise, you can always expect me to collaborate with different artistes and musicians around the world, especially in India, as I have now built a good rapport with artistes there.

In addition, we, the artistes from Rap Indie, are doing Tamil Hip-hop shows. We recently finished a show in London, and our upcoming show will be in Sri Lanka on the 4th of August. We have been in discussions with different event organisers from various parts of the world to take Rap Indie forward and perform in different countries so that our independent songs will have  more coverage. I believe that taking such steps to make Tamil music in Sri Lanka more mainstream will succeed one day, and that day is not very far, as I see younger musicians also following a very healthy and productive line of work to take the Sri Lankan Tamil industry forward.  

Q WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK MEDIA AND STREAMING PLATFORMS PLAY IN PROMOTING LOCAL TAMIL MUSIC IN SRI LANKA? I have always had mixed feelings about the media promoting local Tamil songs in Sri Lanka. I work closely with some media, and they have always supported us by airing and telecasting our songs and music videos. On the other hand, there are several channels that have absolutely no interest or willingness to promote Sri Lankan Tamil music.

I understand it’s all about the amount of money the media makes, particularly for private media companies and channels. Yet, as Sri Lankans, the media should find ways to support Sri Lankan Tamil music, just like how they constantly play and provide plenty of airtime and telecasting space for South Indian Tamil songs. Most Sri Lankan Tamil artistes do not depend on traditional media to promote themselves or their songs. We are heavily dependent on digital streaming platforms and social media.

From my personal experience, I’ve had better results promoting my content on digital streaming platforms than through traditional media. That being said, it’s a completely different ball game altogether. We need to understand the pros and cons of digital streaming platforms to effectively pitch our songs to the right audience. So, I would say that artistes could focus more on digital streaming platforms; at the end of the day, it not only makes your song heard around the globe but also earns you some money. 

Q COULD YOU SHARE MORE ABOUT YOUR RECENT COLLABORATIONS? HOW DO YOU CHOOSE ARTISTES TO COLLABORATE WITH? I have done very few collaborations in the recent past as I was focusing more on releasing singles and a series of covers. My upcoming collaboration is for ADK’s upcoming album, *FLOP*. We have been working on a very unique song, and it’s coming out really well. Apart from that, I have been working with a few artistes in Sri Lanka on future projects, and the songs will be released one by one. In terms of choosing artistes to collaborate with, I always go for those who have the eagerness to work hard and work quickly. I like to finish my projects in a very short period of time, and anyone who falls into the same category as me, I would be totally open to collaborating with.

Q HOW DO YOU ENSURE THAT YOUR UNIQUE STYLE AND THE ESSENCE OF LOCAL TAMIL MUSIC ARE PRESERVED IN COLLABORATIONS, ESPECIALLY WITH ARTISTES FROM DIFFERENT MUSICAL BACKGROUNDS? I often look for different genres and languages when I collaborate with artistes, and I think that itself brings a very unique style and sound. I don’t just stick to singing and rapping in Tamil but also in Sinhalese. My friends, who are composers and singers in the Sri Lankan music industry, help me when I sing in Sinhalese. I remember quite a few incidents, especially when I wrote songs in Tamil for Sri Lankan musicians. The whole recording session would be full of fun and laughter because I would not just be writing songs but also guiding the singers to pronounce the words correctly. I’ve had so much fun recording songs with Chamath Sangeeth, Kanchana Anuradhi, Supun Perera, and Adithya Weliwatta. So, I give a lot of importance to projects that have a unique approach and a set of individuals from different backgrounds and languages. 

Q WHAT ARE SOME SPECIFIC CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED WHILE TRYING TO PROMOTE LOCAL TAMIL MUSIC IN A PREDOMINANTLY SINHALA MUSIC MARKET? Being a musician who sings 90% of his songs in Tamil and tries to cater to the Tamil audience in a country where the Sinhala music market has the biggest influence and potential is a massive challenge. At the initial stages of my career, I didn’t even realise the challenges I would be facing. I just saw myself as a kid wanting to sing and take music as a profession, or at least as a part-time profession, as I do a full-time job in Sri Lanka too. Over time, I realised it’s not just about releasing songs but also about reaching the right audience and working on bigger collaborations. 

For a Tamil singer, the chances of doing a lot of collaborations in the Sinhala music market are very low unless they also want to work on Tamil songs. I faced challenges in reaching out to Sinhala music producers because I always loved working with different artists from different backgrounds. The major setback I still face is promoting Tamil songs in Sri Lanka because even the Tamil audience often listens to songs from the South Indian movie industry. Reaching out to the media during the beginning of my music career was a massive challenge because unless you have solid contacts in the media, it’s impossible for you to even hand over your song for them to listen to and play. For an artiste, one of the things they would love to do is perform in front of people. Having very few Tamil musical shows in Sri Lanka has always been a difficult challenge to overcome, especially for an independent artiste like me because I am  extremely picky in selecting my shows.  

Q YOU RECENTLY PERFORMED IN INDIA FOR VIJAY ANTONY. HOW DID THAT OPPORTUNITY COME ABOUT? 
After eight years of hard work trying to reach out to him, the opportunity finally came when I least expected it. A few months ago, ADK called me and mentioned that Vijay Antony was planning a show in Sri Lanka. He suggested I talk to Vijay Antony’s manager, Saravana Kumar Anandan, to recommend some good venues. 

During my conversation with Saravana Kumar, he asked about my background. I told him that I am an artiste from Sri Lanka, and I rap and sing. For some reason, something about our conversation impressed him. He mentioned that they were looking for a performer to rap at Vijay Antony’s live concerts and asked me to share my work and performance videos. 

A couple of weeks later, we connected again, and he requested that I perform a few of Vijay Antony’s songs and send him the recordings. The next day, I received a call informing me that Vijay Antony Sir liked my work—not just my rap, but my singing too. For a moment, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and didn’t know how to respond. Soon after the call, I received my air tickets, and the next day I was in India, about to perform with the artiste I had always dreamed of working with. 

I vividly remember the first show in Trichy. As I walked on stage to perform my first song with Vijay Antony, I pinched myself to make sure it was real. Up until that moment, I couldn’t believe everything that had happened in the past few days. Performing with Vijay Antony and his team was a surreal experience. They gave me the freedom to be myself on stage, which I greatly appreciated. Saravana Kumar didn’t just let me perform one song; they had me perform six of Vijay Antony’s hit songs, which was an incredibly generous gesture. 

After performing in five shows in India with Vijay Antony, I am beyond excited to perform in my homeland, Sri Lanka, in front of my own people. This is going to be extra special, and I can’t wait for September 7th to get possessed on stage. Haha! 

Q HOW HAS THAT EXPERIENCE INFLUENCED YOUR CAREER AND YOUR APPROACH TO LIVE PERFORMANCES? The whole experience has worked in my favour since my very first show with Vijay Antony. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka, among the Tamil community and audience, the amount of interest and love shown is very limited unless you work in the South Indian film industry. That has been the mindset of most people here, and I won’t blame them for it because we do not have a solid independent industry for Tamil music in Sri Lanka yet. However, after I performed with Vijay Antony, some people’s perception of me as an artiste changed. The acceptance has improved, making it less challenging for me to do more live shows as an independent artiste. 

Career-wise, I received many good projects to work on with several companies, collaborations, and even ad agencies. When I felt like I needed a little push to advance in my musical journey, performing with Vijay Antony Sir provided that boost. 

Q CAN YOU GIVE US A SNEAK PEEK INTO ANY UPCOMING PROJECTS OR COLLABORATIONS YOU'RE EXCITED ABOUT? 
I have two massive announcements to make. First, I will be performing with Vijay Antony in my homeland in front of my own people on the 7th of October. It has always been my dream to perform in a top-selling concert in my own country, and it feels like that dream is about to come true when I take the stage and perform for our people. 
The other announcement is that ADK has created an amazing independent hip-hop show called ‘Rap Indie’ for our team to perform around the world. The team includes ADK, Sri Rascol, Jack’ Styles, and myself. Wherever we go, we will also feature artistes from those respective countries. 

Our next show, ADK Live - Rap Indie, is happening on the 4th of August in Colombo. Doing an independent show as an independent artiste is one of my top priorities, so I couldn’t ask for more. 

Apart from these two big shows, I am collaborating with ADK on his upcoming album FLOP. I have also started working with different producers on various projects in Sri Lanka. 

Q WHAT ARE YOUR LONG-TERM GOALS FOR YOUR MUSIC CAREER, AND HOW DO YOU PLAN TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE TAMIL MUSIC SCENE IN SRI LANKA AND BEYOND? 
Building a solid Tamil indie scene in Sri Lanka has always been my long-term goal. I know this cannot be achieved overnight or by one individual. My future plans include bringing more independent collaborations from Sri Lanka and different countries to work with us and produce songs. I have already started collaborating with the Sinhalese music industry and am trying to get Tamil artistes involved in Sinhala music industry projects too, so the limelight is spread across both communities.

I don’t just believe in catering to the Tamil market in Sri Lanka because the numbers are relatively small; catering to both Tamil and Sinhala audiences would provide better benefits for the Tamil indie scene. 

Another aim of mine is to work in the South Indian industry, keeping in mind that this would bring a different set of audiences to our work and creative ideas. Eventually, this could result in the Sri Lankan Tamil indie scene having more opportunities to reach other parts of the world, not just Sri Lanka.

Q HOW HAS YOUR MUSIC EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS? ARE THERE ANY NEW GENRES OR STYLES YOU'RE EXPERIMENTING WITH? 
Over the years, I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone and started exploring different genres and styles of music and singing. I used to be solely a singer, but in the past 2-3 years, I added rap to my repertoire, and that has been one of the best decisions I’ve made so far. Even the recent shows with Vijay Antony required a rapper, which led to me joining the team and eventually singing in a few songs for them as well. 

I have also worked in various genres such as Indian Folk and Afro in different projects. Currently, I am experimenting with different styles of music that I haven’t explored before. Most importantly, I have been composing quite a few new melodies and tunes to work on a raw guitar original series. 

Q LOOKING BACK, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY IN YOUR MUSIC CAREER? 
Yes. I think I would have wanted to work even harder between the ages of 23 and 28. Due to my professional career and responsibilities, I let go of a few years in music and did not work as hard as I should have during those 4-5 years. Now, I feel that I should have done a few things a bit earlier in my music career. Having said that, I am currently at a good phase in my career, and I still want to work hard and push boundaries to make it even better. I still have a very long way to go. 

Q HOW DO YOU STAY INSPIRED AND MOTIVATED IN YOUR CREATIVE JOURNEY? ARE THERE ANY ARTISTES OR EXPERIENCES THAT HAVE PARTICULARLY INFLUENCED YOU? 
I do not have a specific set of artistes that I get inspired by. I get inspired by the little things that make me realise I can work harder. That said, I do get inspired by ADK, seeing how hard he works and how hungry he still is even after achieving so much. 

I also have a unique way of staying motivated, starting with how I begin my day. I wake up and make my bed, which sets the tone for a beautiful day. I believe creative people need a peaceful and positive environment to feel inspired and motivated. I keep my room very clean and organised. I have created a tiny little world around me to keep my mind in a better place. These things may sound very normal, but they help creative minds stay focused. When you are an artiste with a peaceful and calm mindset, a lot of things work in your favour. 

Q WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG, ASPIRING MUSICIANS? 
I am not really a person who gives advice. I prefer having productive discussions where I can also learn from others as well. If I were to talk with young, aspiring musicians, I would encourage them to aim for a peaceful, stress-free journey. I’ve seen amazing young talents in our country struggle with issues like depression and other challenges. I know a few extremely talented musicians who aren’t consistent with their work because they have so much on their minds.

I believe that creative people who train their minds to look at problems and find solutions, rather than making excuses and running away, will have a beautiful journey. Most young and aspiring musicians are already good at what they do. They just need someone to talk to them from a different perspective to help them excel in their craft. Emphasising the importance of mental well-being and problem-solving skills for young musicians is crucial. It acknowledges their challenges while offering a supportive outlook.